The present invention relates generally to mounting devices and, more particularly, to a mounting device that can be used to securely attach an article, particularly an article formed of rigid wire rods, to a surface using, for example, a stretch releasing adhesive strip.
Many items are mounted on wall surfaces around the home and in the workplace. Such items include, for example, soap dishes, toothbrush holders, shower caddies, kitchen organizers, calendars, storage systems, shelves and organizers. Such items come in a wide variety of styles and sizes and come in plastic, wood laminate systems and wire-type systems. Wood laminate and wire-type systems are commercially available, for example, under the trade designation CLOSETMAID. Such storage systems and organizers may be designed to either stand alone but are commonly designed to be mounted or otherwise secured to a wall surface, such as on a wall, in a closet, or on the inside of a cabinet door.
Organizer systems that can be mounted on a wall are known in the patented prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,001 (Frolov), for example, discloses a wall organizer system formed of wire mesh panels that includes wall brackets for holding the mesh panels to the wall. U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,077 (Randall) discloses an assembly for a wire shelf including a cantilever bracket for mounting to a vertical wall support bracket.
Such systems are typically mounted using conventional mechanical fasteners, such as nails and screws, or require specially designed mounting hardware to anchor them to the wall surface. An example of such a special mechanical fastener is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,494,653 (Remmers), which discloses a mechanical wall anchor that can be used to hang an item, such as a wire shelf, on a wall.
Such conventional mounting hardware, however, suffers from certain drawbacks and limitations. Conventional mounting hardware, for example, is difficult to install, damages the wall surface upon installation, may require tools for installation, is fixed in place once mounted to the wall surface and therefore cannot be easily adjusted or moved to a new location once it has been installed, is generally designed for use with a specific type and/or size of organizer system, is difficult to remove from the wall surface, and typically requires the system to be installed at a fixed orientation, the orientation being determined by the installation of the mounting hardware.
Stretch releasing adhesive tapes and adhesive tape strips are a class of high performance pressure-sensitive adhesives combining strong holding power with clean removal and no surface damage. Stretch releasing adhesive tapes are useful in a wide variety of assembling, joining, attaching, and mounting applications. Stretch releasing adhesive strips are known in the patented prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,312 (Korpman), for example, discloses a highly conformable adhesive tape including a highly extensible and elastic backing film laminated with an adhesive layer. The adhesive strip is easily stretchable and may be removed from a surface by stretching the strip lengthwise in a direction substantially parallel to the surface.
German Patent No. 33 31 016 discloses a high elasticity, low plasticity adhesive film based on a thermoplastic rubber and tackifying resins, wherein the adhesive bond can be broken by stretching the adhesive film in the direction of the plane of the adhesive bond.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,581 (Kreckel et al.) discloses a removable adhesive strip having a highly extensible and substantially inelastic backing coated with a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive and a non-adhesive pull tab to facilitate stretch removal. The adhesive strip can be removed from most surfaces without damaging the substrate by grasping the non-adhesive pull tab and stretching the strip in a direction substantially parallel to the surface of the substrate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,231,962 (Bries et al.) discloses a removable foam adhesive strip. The adhesive strip comprises a backing including a layer of polymeric foam and a layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive coated on at least one surface of the backing.
A commercially available stretch releasing adhesive tape strip is the product sold under the trade designation COMMAND by 3M Company, St. Paul, Minn.
A need exists for a versatile mounting device that is easy to install and use and may be used in place of mechanical fasteners, such as nails and screws, and in place of suctions cups. It would also be desirable to provide a mounting device that does not damage the wall surface, can be attached to a wall surface without the use of tools, can be easily moved from one location to another, allows a storage or organizing system to be mounted and removed from a wall surface quickly and easily, allows the storage or organizing system to be mounted at varying orientations, can be used to mount storage and organizing systems of different sizes, and allows the storage or organizing system itself to be installed without the use of tools. There is a particular need for a versatile mounting device for mounting so call wire-type storage and organizing systems (i.e. store and organizing systems constructed of rigid rods, typically formed of metal, and typically having a diameter of about 2 millimeter (mm) to about 10 mm).